Rumour: Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 to be revealed around GDC in March

Sony and Microsoft are preparing "special Apple-style press conferences" to reveal their next-generation consoles "near the Game Developers Conference in late March", a new Game Informer report has alleged.

I definitely think that the next gen systems are going to be shown to developers only to start garnishing possible exclusives in the future. While I will be inevitably owning both consoles, I'm squeezing the trigger first on SONY's system. It solely lies in the fact that SONY has the most first party studios out of all the BIG 3. So whether third party releases something within that launch window, we're guaranteed something from the first party.

On a side note i think Microsoft is going to need to invent an icon other than Master chief and Marcus Fenix (outside the shooter realm). But someone should definitely acquire the studio behind "TRINE 2". That games is majestic in every sense of the word.

I love how you took only a small portion of my statement even though I provided the reason why i would be. The reason I buy a games console is for games, first and foremost. As far as experiences, Sony created an two new genres for gaming. Play, Create, Share and i don't even know how to classify Heavy Rain. You have Journey, Flower, DCUO, and Starhawk. When you say experience, Sony offers more of it from a first party perspective. When you're talking about a game system, games ARE what matter. Everything else is just an added bonus. Seems like somewhere along the way, you and Microsoft seems to have forgotten the initial reason people buy game consoles.

"My enjoyment of a system isn't just the games, but the entire experience."

That's a very politically correct/non-fanboyish sentiment... but, if not for the games, then why buy a console? Why spend hundreds of dollars to buy a GAME system if games are secondary in your mind? Honestly, Sony has the most first-party developers and puts out the most exclusives(comparing with MS, not Nintendo) -- not timed exclusives or DLC, but actual exclusives, plus Sony gets all the multiplatform stuff. So, a "gamer" is probably going to lean toward Sony at this point unless MS changes the direction they have been heading the last 3 years... If both systems are going to have very similar capabilities (likely), then the games will be the differentiator... But, that is just my opinion.

Yeah, I can see GDC making sense from a Business strategy perspective. The leaks are already starting to kind of come true so if anything more leaks right before E3 could kind of steal the thunder a bit from an unveil. GDC would work up to E3 quite nice because Sony and Microsoft could at least unveil the console, say a little about specs or something so that at E3 they can dive right in and already have a bit of a hype machine rolling.

It all comes down to what is the best Marketing strategy that will produce the most Hyping of the consoles and how each company wants to play that out.

Who knows, maybe having a blowout by each company at E3 would start the madness in rather a great way.

Both consoles will release this year 720 will release late oct/early nov for around £329 ps4 will release mid/late nov for £349

you heard it here first....

The 720 wont be called this it will be known as just "xbox" as they are trying make xbox their central branding. The ps4 wont be called that either, if i were sony id just call it " playstation" or even just "ps" using its classic ps symbol but with a slightly moderised design.

But there's only a handful of Xbox fanboys & little to no Nintendo fanboys on this website so it won't be as funny as n4g in 2006.

This site is now mostly dominated by PlayStation fans so if you're looking for full blown fanboy wars you'll need to go somewhere else.

Being a PS3 fanboy in the Open-zone was hilarious back then but sadly the openzone has been removed, any attempts at making fanboyish comments now will result in your comment being deleted by the mods or you'll be banned.

If indeed there is any substance to these rumours...then it will mark a change for Sony releasing 1st and demonstrates Sony are extremely serious about doing things right next gen.

I hope the desired rush to market any of the highly anticipated next gen machines do not result in 'dodgy' hardware (aka 360 launch machines) and there are enough launch 'quality' games to support them.

How will he be wrong? What a worthless comment. Try backing up your counter-argument. They will not reveal any console this GDC, that makes no sense. Yeah, you and I and others on this site follow GDC, but the main stage has been and always will be E3, it's like the superbowl of gaming.

Bill Gates announced the first Xbox at CES 1999, and the Xbox 360 was announced on MTV in 2005 before being publicly unveiled at E3 1 week later.

Have several seats... Minty and Sony have both announced new Hardware at press events outside of E3. And this year that's likely to be the case since both there current Generation Consoles have plenty of life with big games releasing this year.

The article makes a lot of sense that instead of being announced at E3, Sony and Microsoft will have their own events. At E3 they have to fight for the spotlight. They still might announce very close to E3 like the 360 did. Maybe Sony and Microsoft will take a page out of Nintendo's book and start making announcements whenever they want like the Nintendo Direct videos.

The only way you will be able to sleep safely is if you bribe her with an opportunity to buy something she wants but knows you won't approve of,cause if not you will never hear the end of it. Trust me still hearing it from updating both my 360 & tv to newer models.

i doubt its going to be shown to the public until at least E3 but leaks will be shown before then.. Either way, i cant FN wait to get one.. A brand new system is one of the best joys a tech junky can have.. The smell, the new os, the delicate unboxing, etc.. Give me my PS4/orbis/omni or whatever the hell its called already sony!

Halo4 just released so 343 won't be making a new game this year. A new Gears game is about to come out so Epic likely won't have another ready either. Forza Horizon just came out last year so they also will likely be unable to produce another game so quickly.

While I agree none of those IP's are ready for a 2013 launch if you look at the Xbox 360's launch line up you will see something very curious. None of those IP's for MS either. No Halo or Forza... Gears came out the year after its launch.

MS likes to have good 3rd party support at launch not necessarily 1st party. They launched the 360 with Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Kameo as their only 1st party entrants. So if you look at it that way... Lionhead just launched Fable the Journey in Sept. but they easily could have been co-developing a game in the last half a year of that games cycle and Rare for sure is at work at a number of titles. Also Forza Horizon was not created by Turn 10 proper... so there again you could have a next gen racer ready for launch in 2013. There also are studios like Remedy supposedly working on Alan Wake 2, or their new Black Tusk studio that has been hard at work for the last year.

I have had a PS3 for many years and an Xbox 360 for many years just never had the 2 at the same time. With the new consoles appearing ever closer I wont be able to afford both so I'm really unsure which console to get. So far for me it is PS4 as I would rather 4K than Illumiroom (whatever it is called). Also with Steam Box I'm really undecided.

I prefer the dashboard and community on the Xbox but cant help feel that PS4 is going to take the next title for console winner. Problem I have is I always want the best and unfortunately both consoles come with pro's and con's (current consoles that is). PS4 really need to pull something out of the bag for me and not just in games as I know they can produce brilliant games but online, dashboard, and community. The PS3 was never built as a multi player machine but the Xbox was.

How do I keep my stuff on 360 and PS3 when I migrate to the new systems? I have 300gb worth of content on each system. I hope these new systems have at least 1tb of storage. Unless it's all on the cloud?

Well, it looks like march will be the month the console war kiddies can hit the reset button and start fighting over something they do not even own. A day after launch, the sales nuts can start bragging about results that have no bearing on the course of their pathetic lives. Let the festivities begin.

About the xbox: "That meshes well with what SemiAccurate knows about silicon production times and ODM capabilities. Microsoft insiders tell us that the planned launch date is September 2013, and that is not changing without heads rolling internally."